Went to dealer today to get my 2nd oil change @ 6000 miles, tires rotated and get left rear tire fixed cause it had a bolt in it. Anyways car is all done and I decide to slowly cruise thru the lot just checking out the inventory. All of a sudden I see this black older sonata to my left about 3-4 feet away start backing up at my driver side of car. I layed on my horn and she continues to back into me just behind my front wheel well. WTF!! She jumps out and says she didn't see me. How couldn't she see me... I wasn't going by very fast. I don't think she even looked. I'm so pissed!! I hope this doesn't cost me any out of pocket to get fixed.. Police wouldn't come cause it was on private property. So I gotta file a accident report over the phone with the city. The lady made a copy of all her info and I did the same for her. Ok I'm done ranting now. LoL
Dang that sucks! It reminds me of that Infiniti commercial with that crossover that has some safety feature like cross path detection and there is a kid coming down the sidewalk as it backs out of the driveway. Maybe she needs a car with a feature like that since she obviously does not know how to check her surroundings!!? It's strange that the cops wouldn't come because I backed into a car in the Audi parking lot last yr after picking up my S5 from getting it serviced and a women reported it to a service advisor and the cops were calling me to come back!! So I did and I got a ticket for hit n run. Worse part is the guy was parked in a no parking zone... And drove a pos Honda!!
That sucks! I'm sure her insurance will take care of it. The only two wrecks I've been in have been in the parking lot (*knock on wood*), and both times it was the other person backing out of the parking spot and hitting me as I was stopped right behind them!! It is amazing how many people simply do not look before they start to back up. Anyhow, you car will get straighten up and be good as new!
This is my 2nd occurrence of someone backing into me when I was behind them. I don't get it either. It's not that hard to check your mirrors! Thanks I hope they fix it right.
There was a customer/customer accident at my dealer too apparently. Salesman said they had to drive the car off the lot for my test drive b/c they were responsible for what ever happened on the property. Once off the lot, my insurance was responsible. Although she let me drive back into the dealership. ??
**** that sucks man!! Luckily she is insured with AAA and I got copies of her proof.I hope I don't get screwed with a deductible or she better pay it. LoL
My sympathies as well. Same thing could have happened to any of us while we were taking our first test drive(s). Really unfortunate, but maybe it won't be all that bad once the dust has settled.
Plus, the car will be intact, frame-wise for the rest of the time you own it. The current damage is only cosmetic, after all.
Here's an old Chinese tale:
There was an old man who had a beautiful horse. This horse was not only his family’s pride and joy, but it was also a means to an income for the family.
One day, the horse ran away. Fellow villagers visited the old man to give their condolences for such a stroke of bad luck, as the loss of his horse represented a staggering financial blow that would be hard to recover from.
“Good luck, bad luck: Who can tell?” replied the old man. “It is as it is. My horse is gone.”
Perplexed at the man’s nonchalance towards the apparent tragedy, the villagers went about their business.
A few days later, the horse returned with a pack of 12 wild horses in tow. Again the villagers gathered, this time to offer their congratulations at such a stroke of good luck. Now he had 12 more horses with which to make 12 times the income! What a godsend, they said.
“Good luck, bad luck: Who can tell?” replied the old man again. “All I see is that 12 more horses have appeared.”
The next week, while breaking in one of the wild horses, the old man’s son fell and both his legs were broken. What bad luck! The villagers exclaimed. Your son has broken both of his legs. That’s terrible. How will you get your work done? You are too old to do it yourself.
“Good luck, bad luck: Who can tell?” was the (now predictable and equally frustrating) answer of the old man. “My son has broken his legs. That is all I know.”
Shortly thereafter, the government forcibly removed all the able-bodied men from the village, as the country had gone to war. The old man’s son, however, was spared since his legs were broken.
Police wouldn't come cause it was on private property. So I gotta file a accident report over the phone with the city. The lady made a copy of all her info and I did the same for her. Ok I'm done ranting now. LoL
A police officer responding to the scene and/or a police report really has only a small bearing on your insurance claim. In your case, it is obvious what happened, based upon the damage to both cars, therefore it is easily settled between your two insurance companies.
You have the option of getting the repair completed thru your own insurance company, at which time you will be responsible for your deductible up front (you'll get it back later) and if you have rental reimbursement they can provide you with a rental car. If you do not have rental reimbursement, you can pay for a replacement car out of pocket and you will get the money back when the claim is settled with the other insurance company. After everything is done your insurance company will SUBROGATE the claim (i.e. send the other insurance company all the bills and get their money back).
Or, more easily you can file the claim thru her insurance company, at which point you will have ZERO out of pocket expenses including for a replacement car.
Thanks for all the useful info. I made the police report last night over the phone and filed the claim with my insurance (State Farm). I'm supposed to hear from the claims department today. Living in Mi we are a "no fault" state so idk if that makes any difference if I can file a claim with her insurance or not.
What's the difference if it's on private property or not? An MVA is an MVA and the police should have responded to make a report. Best of luck with your insurance claim. Hope the car get fixed properly and without any out of pocket for you.
It all depends on the jurisdiction. In many jurisdictions an "accident" occurring on PRIVATE PROPERTY is considered "PROPERTY DAMAGE" and not a "TRAFFIC ACCIDENT." Additionally, all jurisdictions have their own policies regarding when and if a police report is taken... in Washington DC where I work as a police officer, we only take police reports for traffic accidents occurring on PUBLIC PROPERTY and that involve a government vehicle, taxi or public bus OR a traffic accident that involves bodily injury, no matter the type of vehicle. Thus 90% of traffic accidents have no police report... the insurance companies have their own people to resolve those issues... they are really not a police matter most of the time anyway (afterall it was an ACCIDENT).
Spoke with State Farms claims department. It's going to cost me $0 deductible. yay!. They said if I had to pay any ded. that is when I would make a claim on the ladies insurance to pay the ded. for me. I'm happy to find this out today. next step is get it to the body shop.
Reminded of my experience. In the parking lot waiting for a car to leave and another car across from it was backing up at the same time. They were both SUVs so no excuse of "not seeing each other". Luckily I honked my horn before they touched each other, but man, I'm like ?
Sorry this happened to you. It really sucks but luckily the damage isn't too bad. As far as police coming out, here in California even if on a public road, unless there is damage to city property or someone is injured the police do not come out. Or unless it's a hit & run obviously.
Thanks man. I agree with ya. Damage could have been worse. I guess it's more common than I thought for the police to not show up for all accidents. I'm sure they have more important matters to deal with than a minor accident. Alot of departments have less officers in recent years due to budget cuts. So they have to prioritize incidents I'd guess.
on a lighter note.. my cousin backed up into a police car that was driving by very slowly, right in front of the police department. Bunch of cops came out and started laughing. It's a good story to tell people many years later.
OP, I hope you're looking into getting a louder horn, since the stock one was obviously not adequate in your situation. I recently had a lady driving alongside me on the freeway merge right into the space my Optima was occupying, and so I laid on my horn. She didn't hear my worthless wimpy stock horn at all, which is not surprising since I could barely hear it myself.
When I have the front bumper cover off to do my DRL's, I plan to install the loudest horn I can find. There's no more helpless feeling than having someone back or merge into you, and you're honking at them with all your might, but they can't hear your wimpy little horn.
I think your right!! This is a perfect example of why people on this forum have upgraded their horns.. I don't think my wife will think its a silly idea anymore..lol. Our last vehicle (05 Toyota Highlander) that also got backed into while i was honking, had a wimpy horn too. I'm going to need this mod to protect my car from getting hit again.
^^^sometimes it's not about the horn. I'm sure the lady heard your horn, since she was right next to you. Some people completely tune out what's going on around them. They just know one fact that they have to make that merge no matter what the cost. You don't want to startle such a person with a train horn. The best thing is to either brake or merge to the next lane if possible.
Your remarks are very much appreciated, and were directed toward you and not the person who disagreed with me. I fail to see any downside to getting a louder horn. I only use mine about twice a year anyway, and on the rare occassions I when I need to use my horn, I REALLY need a good loud horn. And if it startles someone, too bad. Besides, I'm not in the habit of pulling up to friend's houses and blasting my horn to let them know I'm there, so that's not gonna be a problem.
As a side note, the trolling on this board seems really bad to me. Mods, please do something. Or if you don't, then maybe I'll start doing some trolling for myself.